Ocean City, NJ

Today?  Beach Day!  There were storms threatening, but it turned out to be a great day!

Walking down to the beach-he can't w-a-i-t!  We bought beach toys, then got MORE at Ches' aunt Betty's house!

Clay and his cousin Will found all sorts of crabs (LiVe!), so they stored them in some buckets.  Fun!

They were the easiest to find right as the waves washed out-in the juicy, moist sand.

Ethan?  Loved that green long-handled shovel!

Ok..we were at about crab number 38 by this point, and working on the second bucket.

This is Caroline-Mary Claire's Jersey twin!  They even had swimsuits alike. ; )

By this point-he was exhausted!  He just laid out in the sand.

One more..in the water!

She really liked it when the waves rolled in-she'd stand backwards, then "ride" it in, but this one washed over her head.

All covered up!

Sweeties.  Only all together for a second!

Okay..maybe two. ; )

On the boardwalk..picking out a hermit crab.

Clay's making a deal with the owner.  He only has $16 to spend, so she set him up.  He got the cage, a hermit crab, an extra shell (for when he grows), food, and a sponge.  Not bad. : )

Here's his new tiger-striped hermit crab, "Hercules" (and his spare shell, 88).

Can you imagine living in such a small box??  Me neither!

I learned something about spray-on sunblock today.  It covers exactly where you spray.  There's no broad-range coverage as I must have thought.  I sprayed down both arms, a quick spray on my chest, back, and on the fronts of my legs.  I now have white stripes down my arms (!!), and a big white splotch on my chest.  Super attractive.  Geez, I'm always learning something.

The day was perfect-not too hot.  I bet it didn't top 85, but it was sunny, breezy, and we had great fun with friends, that happen to be related to us!  Ha!  I love catching up-it's been a whole year!  Mary Claire adores Caroline, and they are like Irish cousins-a year apart, and both freckled and sweet.  Mary Claire went over to their beach house and then to the beach to meet us, then we got Caroline and kept her with us till it was time to go back home.  They are so sweet together.  It's a shame we live so far apart!

Clay had fun with the boys-Joseff & Eric-they are a couple years older, and that's probably what he loves!  Joseff took him down to the boardwalk to pay for his hermit crab-we'd spent all our cash on beach tags and pizza for lunch.  I'm so thankful they have sweet cousins to play with-it does make a good vacation! : )


Rita ordered Philly cheesesteaks for dinner, and we had mint chocolate chip ice cream for snack-the kids loved it!  We had a pretty quiet evening (besides the excitement over watching the hermit crab eat and crawl and clickety-clack in the bathtub with his claws).  Ahhh...I think we'll all sleep well tonight!

Hope you had a great day too!  Hugs, ya'll!